Tobias Putrih

Born in 1972 in Kranj (Slovenia), he lives in New York.

Deeply interested in sculpture, architecture and film, Tobias Putrih devises his installations in relation to the viewer’s pereceptive characteristics. The notion of the void is part and parcel of his work. The materials he uses are intentionally ordinary and inexpensive, such as wood and cardboard, with which he often makes maquettes. Since 2001, the artist has been focusing his line of thinking and his way of looking at things on the film projection space.

Cinema Attitudes 2 is his geometric, organic archi-sculpture, the first  version of which was made in 2008 for attitudes, the contemporary  art centre in Geneva. His films are projected throughout the festival. They block the nave of the Abattoir museum like a  stranded fragment of the iceshelf.
 

What does the festival’s subtitle “Here where I am doesn’t exist” mean to you?
I think the title implies a certain escape from reality—there are real spaces which construct an almost alternative reality. And this is precisely what interests me—the visually intense space that manipulates, the stage or film set space where everything becomes possible and where everything has a precise purpose.

What does art help you accomplish?
I think my art is always abstract, even when it is associated with functionality; it analyses simple visual, structural and social concepts, and the way the onlooker can be influenced and manipulated by them. In a way, I want to be an anthropologist coming up with an experimental space and observing how people react from within. Basically, I just want to gain the knowledge needed to construct a more interesting and complex space.